Breast cyst fluids increase proliferation of breast cell lines in correlation with their content of hormones and growth factors.

ENRIORI P, VÁZQUEZ SM, CHIAUZZI V, PÉREZ C, FISCHER CR, GORI JR, ETKIN AE, CHARREAU EH, CALANDRA RS, LUTHY IA.

CLINICAL ENDOCRINOLOGY

Blackwell Publishing

Lugar: Oxford; Año: 2006 vol. 64 p. 20 - 28

0300-0664

Objective and design: Gross cystic disease of the breast is reported to occur in 7% of women in the Western world and, although not pre-malignant, is thought to be associated with an increased breast cancer risk. Hormone and growth factor concentration levels were measured in breast cyst fluid (BCF) to correlate them with their mitogenic activity on tumor (MCF-7) or non-transformed (MCF-10A) cells. Results: Estradiol (E2), estrone (E1), E2-sulphate (E2-S), E1-sulphate (E1-S) and EGF concentrations were, as expected, significantly higher in Type I than in Type II cysts, while TGF-b2 showed higher levels in Type II cysts. 50% of the BCF samples stimulated [3H]-Thymidine incorporation to MCF-7 cells while 34.5% inhibited this parameter. In MCF-10A, most BCF samples were stimulatory (85%). E2, E1, and EGF concentrations in BCF samples correlated significantly and positively with cell proliferation on MCF-7 cells, whereas a significant negative correlation was found for TGF-Beta2. In MCF-10A cells, only E2-S, E1-S exhibited significant positive correlation, whereas a significant negative correlation was found for TGF-Beta2. Progesterone (Pg), E2 and EGF incubated under the same conditions had a stimulatory effect on [3H]-Thymidine incorporation to MCF-7 cells, whereas TGF-Beta2 inhibited this parameter. Pg, E2, E1 and EGF stimulated significantly this parameter in MCF-10A cells. Conclusions: The stimulatory action of BCF on cell proliferation on a model of human breast epithelial cells could partly explain the increased incidence of breast cancer on cyst bearers.